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From the Editor

Last month’s From The Editor tooted a bit about how it was
Freelance Traveller’s first Theme Issue.
Sadly, Your Humble Editor needs to peruse his cookbooks for workable
recipes for crow; it seems that I designated the May/June 2012 issue as
a Theme Issue (for 2300AD), and pride of place for Theme Issues must
therefore go to that issue.

I promised last month that I’d give an overview of the list of themes I
have for Theme Issues. I should note that what I say about a particular
Theme should not be taken as a rigorous limit; if you can think of other
ideas that would fit in with the Theme as described, go for it—don’t
rule it out just because I don’t mention it below.

Right now, five Themes are waiting for material:

Cruise: For this Theme, I’d like to see a focus on
taking a vacation/holiday trip. An ideal linkage would be a Shipyard
article on a passenger liner, with deckplans; a “photo” tour of the
public areas of the ship; a profile of a Personality aboard the ship,
e.g., the Captain or the Chief Steward/Purser; and a shipboard
adventure/seed involving the Personality. Examples of other good
articles might include a Jump Destination for the ship, looking at a
world that’s a Tourist Destination; a story (Raconteurs’ Rest) that
takes place there or aboard the ship; a Contact!-style article on a
minor race that lives on the world, and so on.

Dark Imperium: Maybe the Imperium isn’t as hands-off
with respect to a world’s governance as normally portrayed. Maybe the
Imperium has its own ‘political correctness’. Maybe the iron fist behind
the velvet glove is a bit more visible, and the velvet a bit more
threadbare and tattered. Lots of room here, and I have no specific
linkage in mind—but maybe you do!

Prime Directive: When
this setting—essentially, Star Trek (The Original Series)—for Mongoose
Traveller is finally released, I’d like to
kick off Freelance Traveller’s support for
it with a Theme Issue. One caution, which goes with all
Prime Directive material for any system:
No cameos from the TV series, no sourcing from later series or movies—as
I understand things, this is a mandate imposed on ADB as part of the
terms of their license for the setting.

Space City: This might be the startown of a highport;
it might be an independent habitat. Either way, it’s big, it’s
populated, and it’s a Place where Things Can Happen. Again, lots of room
here, and no specific linkage in mind.

Yacht: This theme can have a lot of conceptual overlap
with the Cruise Theme. The principal difference is that the where the
Cruise Theme features a passenger liner, this Theme features the
privately-owned pleasure ship. The same sort of linkage and articles
work for both themes.

Naturally, if you have ideas for other themes, I’m interested in hearing
about them. Write and suggest them, and/or tell me which of the above
would be most of interest to you.